Eric and Calleigh: A romance in jeopardy
by Charmita
Summary: ok this is my second attempt to post the fanfic, hope you enjoy reading. my story takes place after 8x05, when Eric quit his job... this is a sequel to my first fanfic "close to nowhere", which is posted on yt.
1. Chapter 1

hey I hope you like the first chapter!

-------------------------------------------------------------------

** A romance in jeopardy**

...it was almost midnight and she was lying in his strong arms, but they didn`t have the effect to calm her down like the always used to have. She shivered and he stroke her cheek before

he quietly removed his arm from her shoulders and went out of the room. He had to get some distance, he desperately needed something to distract himself from what he did today, which

difficult decision he made. He moved over to the living room and sat down on the couch, after having switched on the tv. While he was watching an old "James Bond" movie, remembering

the last hours at the locker room and their conversation, Calleigh was having the worst nightmare of her entire life:

_She thought someone got into their flat and took Eric apart from herand she couldn`t do anything, cause she was handcuffed to the bed and her gun miles away locked in the nightstand drawer. _

_She couldn`t even scream, cause she was gagged and the tears started running down her face as the unknown masked burglars knocked Eric out with a baseball bat. His fall to the ground seemed _

_like it was in slow- motion. Then he was lying right beside her and there was blood flooding the whole room from the deep wound in his head which was caused by the bat._

--------

In the meantime Eric went to the kitchen and tried to make himself a sandwich, cause he suddenly felt a deep desire for eating something. He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn`t

even notice that the knife slid off and hurt his hand. He grabbed the sandwich and returned to his former position on the couch.

"What about you and me?" this one sentence echoed through his mind since Cal said it to him, hours ago. He had never thought that she would think he would leave her. It was one thing

to quit the job as a CSI, but a completely different one to leave his girlfriend, his fianceé. He didn`t know what to say and so he just kept smiling and tried to hide his uncertainty and

vulnerability, which always showed up when he had to deal with his overwhelming feelings for Calleigh Duquesne.

---------  
She struggled, fought against the blanket as if it was her most horrifying enemy and gasped as she opened her eyes, searching for something familiar, something to hold on to. She was

scared to death and tried to convince herself that this was nothing more than a bad dream, a nightmare, which never ever would become true. She reached for Eric and whispered his

name, but there was no sign of him anywhere in the room. She was nearly getting a panic attack, so she tried to think logically and straight. "Don`t panic, everything is gonna be ok,

maybe he just went off to the toilet or something." she murmured, but grabbed her gun, just to make sure that she had everything under control. She carefully sneaked out of her bed

room, which was left ajar. She blinked as she got into the floor, cause the brightness of the lights blinded her eyes. Instead of looking into the light she concentrated on looking down and

noticed that there were some spots of blood on the floor. "Omg- this is serious!" this sentence immediately popped up in her mind and she didn`t know what to do best- should she just

get back into her bedroom, lock the door and call 911, or should she trust her instincts and burst into the living room, from which she could hear the sounds of a terrible fight? She didn`t

hesitate any longer as she heard two shots and then nothing but a baleful silence. Holding her gun right in front of her, she burst into the living room, keeping only one thought in her

mind: "Save, Eric!"...

-------------------------------------------------------------------

so this is it for now, hope you liked it :)


	2. Chapter 2

here is the second chapter- I`m sry that there is not much drama, but I promise there is more to come...

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

He couldn`t get her off his mind, so he decided to turn off the tv, after James Bond was involved into a shooting with a man, called Dr. No. At this very moment he heard the living room

door bursting and turned his head around to face Calleigh who was ready for anything: "FREEZE! Or the next move could be your last!" she yelled full of adrenalin, before she realized that

it was her future husband on whom she pointed her gun. She slowly put down the weapon and went over to join him, who stared at her in astonishment, on the couch.

"Cal, what the hell is going on here?" Eric finally forced himself to say something, to break the awkward silence, which has layed over them after Calleigh suddenly appeared with her gun.

From the moment on which she had yelled at him she hadn`t said any word, she just looked at him with her innocent blue- green eyes which absorbed an unmistakable glint that he

didn`t see very often, cause she was the woman who always brightened his day with her beautiful smile and her eyes which were normally as brilliant as diamonds. Calleigh tried to get

her confidence back, but suddenly all her secret fears and the pressure which layed on her came to surface. "Eric, I I thought you were hurt, I had a horrible dream that someone came to

get you- and all this stuff you said to me at the locker room... I`m totally confused, cause I thought we were getting married in about a month and now you are telling me that you quit

your job, which you love, you always loved, cause you need some distance, some time to think about what you are gonna do next? I`m soooo worried about you, I can`t even sleep

without the fear of losing you- you are my love, my live... What am I supposed to do?" Eric was speechless, he never thought that her feelings for him were as deep as his feelings for her,

but now he finally got the assurance he needed so bad. "Cal, honey, you don`t have to worry about anything! My life would suck without you- I wouldn`t have any reason to live anymore

if I lost you! And I`m really sry, if I made you thinking that I`m gonna break up with you- I never would- not in a million years!" He brushed a wisp of her hair out of her face dripping with

tears and gently squeezed her hand. "Eric- you are bleeding!" Calleigh cried out in shock. He looked down at his hand and it was really covered in red lifeblood. "How did that happen?"

she looked daggers at him, while she tried to figgur out if he had missed to tell her something important. "Oh, I don`t know- maybe it happened while I was making a sandwich you know I

can be clumpsy if I`m not really present with my concentration." he winked at her, trying to put a smile on his face. She wasn`t pleased about this, he knew that and she wouldn`t stop till

his wound would have been vetted. He sighed in resignation and Calleigh ran to the bathroom to get dressing material and disinfectant spray, to treat the wound.

-----------------------------------------------

After she came back, they had a very long conversation about how their common future was supposed to be and Calleigh told him that she couldn`t handle the situation at work- without

him. Everybody knew that they were in a relationship and of course they would make her being responsible for Eric`s leaving. "Look, sweetheart..." Eric stated " No one will make you

responsible for that! They all know that I went through so much within the last few years and it was just a matter of time before I would quit the job. H can cope with that and I know they

and especially you can do that, too! Let`s just go to bed now and make sure that you have a deep sleep- no nightmares any more, promise? You have to get up early tomorrow- for us,

you have to put this damn criminals away and show them a lesson which they will never forget!" Calleigh didn`t want to argue, so she just nodded and they went over to the bed room.

Before they reached the door, he stopped her and turned her around, so that she could face him. He lifted her chin and said in a cordially tone: " I love you, Calleigh Duquesne!" Her sad

eyes lightened up and she gave him a passionate kiss... As they broke up Eric smiled teasingly: "Well if you want to stay awake, I`m sure we will find something to make you feel better-

much better..." with this words he left her at the open door and went into the darkness of their bedroom.

-------------------------------------------------

Calleigh didn`t want to get up, she felt sick, just like a little schoolgirl who didn`t want to go to school this morning, but Eric was already awake and made breakfast for them, so she

sighed deeply, left her warm and comfortable bed, went into the bathroom, took a shower, got dressed and sat down next to Eric at the kitchen table. "Morning honey- how are you

feeling today?" he lent forward and placed a kiss on her forehead. She had to admit she didn`t know how she felt exactly, there were too many different feelings inside of her, so she just

nodded: "I`m ok, thx." and took a big bite of her biscuit, to make sure that she couldn`t answer any following questions. Eric raised his eyebrow, but didn`t say anything. "She will get

over it" he thought. "I truly hope she will." He reached for the newspaper and they lapsed into silence for the rest of the breakfast. Eric took a quick look at his watch : "It`s time- you

don`t want to be late- do you?" "No" she whispered, took her bag and left the room before he got the chance to see her eyes which had become teary again. It almost broke his heart as

he saw how hard she had to force herself to drive to the MDPD building again and just do her job, as if nothing had happened. "I`m so sry Cal!" He watched her driving away and got into

the kitchen to wash the dishes...


	3. Chapter 3

It was almost noon and she had tried to avoid talking to her colleagues as hard as she could. They were working on a new case- some stalker was accused of having murdered his object

of desire, but he refused to confess that he comitted the crime and their was no evidence to prove that black was white, which made it very difficult to keep him in custody for longer than

48 hours, so that they were under enormous pressure of time. Calleigh went into the ballistic lab to test whether the gun, the stalker owned for protecting himself, that was what he said

during the interrogation, was the murder weapon. H tore her out of her thoughts as he lightly touched her shoulder. "Calleigh, did you found something?" "No- unfortunately the bullet

from his gun was no match." she sighed- could this day go worse? "Hey, don`t give up- I think it`s the best to return to the crime scene- maybe we missed something. Take Miss Boa Vista

with you, will you?" She winced as he mentioned her name, but he noticed that. "What`s the matter- Ryan and Natalia said you were avoiding to talk to them all morning?" "It`s it`s just

cause of Eric." she looked away- she knew this was stupid, but he had begged her not to talk to them about his leaving. "Ah, well I see. I`ll take care of that! You can take Mr. Cardoza

instead." H replies with a knowing smile on his face. He turned away and was almost out of the room as he stopped. "The wedding is still on 2nd of december, isn`t it?" "Yeah, hope you

haven`t got other plans..." "No,of course I`ll be there, can`t let you down..." he smiled and left her alone with her thoughts.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Calleigh didn`t speak much while she was examining the crime scene- Ryan and Natalia had done this before and she didn`t feel comfortable with this whole situation which let it seem as

if they weren`t able to do their job the right way. Jesse had no problem with that- he seemed a little bit arrogant towards her, though she didn`t know much about him. He had come to

replace Michael Leeds who decided to return back to LA, soon after his arrival. She tried to remember how Jesse had been in former days, as she first met him, but too much time had

passed by and so she just tried to concentrate on the case, while Jesse was trying to do some small talk. "I`m sry, is anything wrong?" he asked "You didn`t say a word since we arrived!"

"No,no I`m just uhhm not feeling well!" she tried to make her answer as short as possible, but giving enough information that he would notice that she didn`t have the need to talk.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Calleigh was glad to be back at the lab, she hadn`t have a good day so far, she was missing Eric all the time and couldn`t help feeling weak and teary. It was obvious that Jesse must

have noticed something, though he didn`t try to get any further information out of her after she admitted that she wasn`t feeling well. They ignored each other most of the time and finally

found something that would prove the stalker`s guilt. So they returned to MDPD and Calleigh quickly entered the building to escape the enormous heat. Today the temperature had risen

up to 98 degrees and though she liked the summer, this had been a little too hot for her taste and her white top had become wet cause the sweat ran down all over her body. She

definitely needed a cold and refreshing shower- soon. A shy knock on the door caught her off of her thoughts. She looked up and saw a familiar face. Her eyes brightened and she put on a

big smile. "Hey honey, how are you doing? I thought I may come over and take you out for lunch!" "Hey- it`s so good to see you. Sure- I need a break now. I`ll just finish this up and then

I`ll meet you downstairs, all right?" she got all the evidence that was splayed on the table and put it back in the bags. After she had told Horatio that she would take an hour off she

quickly headed down the stairs, to meet Alexx Woods, her former colleague and best friend... "How`d you know that I could need some diversion?" Calleigh asked curiously- they were

now sitting in one of those little restaurants near the beach. She felt refreshed and much better now, after she took a quick shower and changed her dress. She didn`t caught any sign of

Eric in the flat, she checked the refrigerator door but there was no message left for her. Maybe it was good that he wasn`t there so they couldn`t get into another fight, but she instantly

felt sry for thinking this way- every minute without him was a loss. "Well you know..." she could see the worry in Alexx`s eyes. "Eric told you, didn`t he?" "Yeah, he called me after you left

home this morning, told me that he quit his job and how upset you are about this situation. Sweetie, he is really desperate and worried about you- I think he just needs some time off.

What if you two would take a week off for vacation, so that you could spend more time together?" Alexx suggested trying to arbitrate between them. "Hmm well I think that would be a

good idea!" she nodded and began to think about a place to go. "How about visting Montreal for a week? I visited it was once and I was really impressed by the "Mont Royal"- you should

definitely go to the "Chalet du Montreal"- there is a big patio from which you have a fabulous view..." Alexx sounded really keen on her idea, but Calleigh was a bit doubtfully: "Canada?

Don`t you think we should try something which is nearby like Frisco or LA?" "Trust me sweetheart, it`s the perfect place to go for you two before the wedding! You won`t regret it, I

promise!" she blinked at her and supportively squeezed her hand...


	4. Chapter 4

this is all, which I`ve written so far, but I hope to update soon, so hope you enjoy reading!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

While Calleigh was having lunch with Alexx, Eric got some other stuff to do. First of all he went to a travel agency and booked two flights to Montreal for the next morning and after that,

when he was sure Calleigh wouldn`t be there, he drove over to the lab, to have a quick talk with Horatio on his possibilities to get an other job in the lab, so that he could still work

there, but wouldn`t get in so much trouble, cause to be one day off of work almost had killed him and so he changed his mind about leaving CSI. Horatio was very pleased to see him back

so soon: " Hey, Eric how are you doing?" "Well, I guess fine, except for not being a CSI any more." H raised his eyebrow in astonishment: "I thought it was your decision to quit the job?"

"Yeah, it was." Eric responded. "I think, I overreacted. It was a mistake to resign- I was wondering whether you could offer me another job- maybe I could just do some work at the lab or

something." Horatio thought about it for a minute and then said: " You could take Mr. Simmons place in the night shift- he just came to me today and asked whether he could transfer to

the day shift. So it would be great to have someone with the knowledge and skills you have back in the team- though it`s not my team, but I`m sure you`ll be able to work with them-

they are nice people, if you once get to know them!" Eric was a little bit disappointed he hoped to get a job in day shift so that he would still be able to see Calleigh, even if he couldn`t go

out with her in the field anymore, but he accepted. This offer was way better than working somewhere else.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Calleigh felt much better now- she had spent the last hour with Alexx, talking about the vacation and then about the wedding. After they had finished their meals they went shopping-

Calleigh hadn`t got a wedding dress yet, she didn`t have had the time to buy one, so Alexx decided to call Natalia and then the three of them went to almost every bridal shop of Miami to

get her the perfect one. Calleigh had almost given up all of her hope, cause all the dresses she had tried on, didn`t seem perfect, though Alexx and Natalia had lots of favs their selves.

"Sweetie, this is the last shop, we hadn`t looked in, let`s have a try and see what we`ll get, ok?" She reasuringly took Calleigh`s hand and trailed her into an old little house, which

seemed to be over its best years. "I`m not sure whether this is the right place to search for a wedding dress!" Natalia whispered after they got into the shop. An old door bell had

announced them to the owner of the shop, who now came from behind a door which had written "private" on it. "Hello, how can I help you?" Calleigh instantly knew that this had been the

right place to go to as she glanced at the old lady, that was standing right in front of her and looking at her with curiosity and an overwhelming warmness in her fawn brown eyes. She

just looked like Calleigh`s granny whom she often visited when she was a little child- little Calleigh loved her granny, but sadly the old lady died early and Calleigh had never really got

over it. Calleigh was just staring at her and couldn`t get out a word, so Alexx stepped in helpfully: " We are surching for a dress for her." she pointed at Calleigh. "The wedding is in about

a month, so we are in a little hurry know, you understand?" "Oh yeah, I see." the old woman nodded understandingly and disappeared between some mannequins. "Well, I think I have

the perfect dress for this young lady- my little Amy was supposed to wear it one day, but unfortunately her husband to be cheated on her so that she break up with him and decided she

would never ever make the mistake again to trust a man and of course she didn`t want to marry anymore... never mind, here it is, darling!" She heavily breathed as she showed up with a

white dress which was lying over her right arm. "Wooow" Natalia and Alexx said unison...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I`m sry to leave you at this point, but I`ll try to post something new soon...


End file.
